Saunders and his club are still languishing in the relegation zone, but it could have been far worse.

It looked like Watford were cruising to victory but Matt Doherty’s long throw-in was only partially cleared and former St- Etienne man Sako claimed his tenth goal of an impressive first season.

It robbed Zola of an 11th triumph on his travels this season, but the point was enough to put distance between the Hornets and third-placed Hull City.

‘It was St David’s Day,’ said Saunders, ‘and I thought I’d mark the occasion by wearing a daffodil and my lucky socks.

‘I was hoping for a bit of fortune. In the end, we got it and it feels like a win.

‘The players are fighting and I hope it gives them a bit of belief. This could be a turning point for us.’

Watford handed a full debut to keeper Jonathan Bond as Manuel Almunia suffered a hamstring injury, and the 19-year-old pulled off a superb double stop in the first-half to deny Kevin Doyle and Bjorn Sigurdarson.

The value of Bond’s
save was seen when Karl Henry’s untidy challenge on Matej Vydra ended
with Abdi firing home a curling free-kick from the edge of the area.

After the interval Ikechi Anya missed the chance to increase Watford’s
advantage with his side-foot effort and Cristian Battocchio fired a
long-range strike that was heading for the top corner until Carl Ikeme
turned it over the crossbar.

Zola is famed for his good-humoured
approach. But even his smile was strained after seeing two points slip
from his grasp at the final whistle.

‘It’s disappointing because I didn’t see it coming,’ he said. ‘I thought we were in control of the game.

‘I was shocked along with the players
at the goal but we missed a number of chances and it cost us. We have
to be more clinical.’